Abstract

This survey investigated indigenous knowledge on goat breeding and
management practices and selection criteria of farmers in Konso and
Meta-Robi districts, Ethiopia. A total of 240 households was selected for
administration of semi-structured questionnaire.

The majority (89.1% in Konso and 74.8 % in Meta-Robi) of respondents had a breeding buck. The main
sources of breeding buck in the study areas were own flock. Mating was
majorly (98.3% in Konso and 95.8% in Meta-Robi) uncontrolled. The majority
of respondents was practiced selection of breeding male (89.7 % in Konso and
94.1% in Meta-Robi) breeding female (80.2 % in Konso and 98.3% in
Meta-Robi). Growth rate, body size and resistance to disease were the main
buck selection criteria in Konso while, body size, coat color as well as
growth rate was in Meta-Robi. Selection of doe for Body size, litter size
and coat color the major considered criteria of replacement in Konso while,
twining ability, body size and frequent kidding were in Meta-Robi. Farmers’
indigenous knowledge on goat breeding practices and management and selection
criteria should form the basis of all community-based breeding programs.

Keyword: breeding practices, indigenous knowledge, selection criteria

Introduction

Farmers’ and pastoralists’ strategies are expressed in their indigenous
breeding and management practices, breeding/production objectives, and
marketing strategies (Valle Zárate 1999). A village-based breeding strategy
would require a good understanding of the community’s indigenous knowledge
of their animals (Koehler 2003). Farmers’ and pastoralists’ indigenous
strategies take into account the production environment, long-standing
tradition of livestock production practices, management skills,
socioeconomic and cultural factors, and the availability of inputs and
services (Valle Zárate 1999).

Definition of the breeding objective forms the initial step in the
development of genetic improvement programs. Logically, this definition is
preferable to start with a few of the most relevant traits in a breeding
objective rather than complex combinations of all the important traits
(Philipsson et al 2006). Thereafter, the number of traits can be limited to
major interest while considering producer’s preferences in order to reduce
the risk of it being neglected, being unproductive or not performing its
intended function (Kosgey 2004; Kosgey et al 2006; Bett et al 2009). It is
also important to have a clear understanding of the environment, including
prediction of the future requirements when developing breeding objectives
and setting selection criteria (Solkner et al 1998; Olivier et al 2002;
Kosgey et al 2006).

In general livestock farmers place more weight on morphological selection
criteria (subjective selection) than production selection criteria
(objective selection) (Gavigan and Parker 1997). Breeding objectives should
be set within the country or regional overall development policy frameworks,
be farmer-driven, but subjected to regular reviews (Philipsson et al 2006).
Thus, the study was undertaken to investigate indigenous knowledge on goat
breeding and management practices and selection criteria adopted by farmers
in Konso and Meta-Robi districts, Ethiopia.

Materials and methods

Environmental setting of the study locations

The survey was conducted in Meta-Robi and Konso districts. Meta-Robi is
located 100 km north-west from the capital Addis Ababa. The district lies in
a hilly landscape at elevations from 1,200 to 2,900 m.a.s.l and located at 9020’
N latitude and 38010’ E longitude. The mean annual temperature
and rainfall ranges from 230C to 310C and 750 mm to
1100 mm, respectively. Precipitation is relatively low and mainly occurs
during two seasons: The small rainfall, locally called ‘Belg’ rain,
between March and April, and the big rain called ‘Meher’ rain
between June and September (MKC-RDA 2009). Over 95 % of the population
practices mixed crop-livestock production system (Emmenegger 2012).

Konso is located 595km away from Addis Ababa in the southwest of Ethiopia;
it is located at 50 17' 36'' N latitude and 370 29'
05'' E longitude and lies between 600 to 2100 m.a.s.l (Konso district
agricultural office 2008). The temperature ranges between 12 to 330C
(Tesfaye 2003). The annual rainfall variation is between 400 and 1000mm. The
rain follows a bimodal pattern there are two rainy season’s i.e.”Belg”
big rains with the period starting mid February and lasts until April and
the small rain period ”Meher” occurring around October and November
(Cheung 2008). The production system is integrated crop-livestock system
(Forch 2003).

Data collection

The household survey used a set of semi structured questionnaires. This
questionnaire was designed to obtain information from respondents on
breeding management, mating system, the purpose of keeping goats and
selection criteria. Based on the goat population size and the relative
significance of goats to the livelihood of the communities, four villages
were accordingly selected from each district for the administration of the
questioner. A total of 120 well experienced goat owners were randomly
selected for administration of the semi-structured questionnaire. Focus
group discussions (FGD) were held with selected farmers that included the
elderly, women and people believed to be knowledgeable about past and
present social and economic status of the area.

Data management and analysis

Collected data through questionnaire were coded and entered into the SPSS
package (SPSS for windows, release 14.0 2006). For data involving
frequencies, descriptive statistics were in use and Chi-square or t-test was
employed when required to test the independence of categories or to assess
the statistical significance. Index was calculated for ranked variable
(selection criteria for selecting breeding buck and doe) in reference to its
formula: Index = Sum of (5 X number of household ranked first + 4 X number
of household ranked second + 3 X number of household ranked third + 2 X
number of household ranked fourth + 1 X number of household ranked fifth)
given for an individual reason divided by the sum of (5 X number of
household ranked first + 4 X number of household ranked second +3 X number
of household ranked third + 2 X number of household ranked fourth + 1 X
number of household ranked fifth) for overall reasons.

Results and discussion

Breeding management

The Majority (89.1% in Konso and 74.8 % in Meta-Robi) of respondents had a
breeding buck (Table 1). Some of respondents from both districts who owned
buck reported providing of special management for breeding buck such as
provision of crop residue, local brewery by product and water.

The number of breeding buck per household was equivalent among the two
districts. The average service life of a buck in the flock was smaller in
Meta-Robi (2.3 years) than Konso (4 years) (Table 1); after which it will be
usually castrated or disposed through sale or slaughter. A similar practice
of changing the serving bucks every 5.5years (around Dire Dawa) and 4.4±2.01
years (around Asayta) to prevent inbreeding were reported by Grum (2010) and
Feki (2013), accordingly. Apparently, the average age at which the breeding
buck is changed, revealed in Meta-Robi, relatively may considered better in
the prevention of inbreeding. Apparently, The smaller average service life
of a breeding buck in Meta-Robi may be considered better in the prevention
of inbreeding.

The major purposes of keeping bucks were for mating (64.5% for Konso and
67.7 % for Meta-Robi) and for both mating and fattening (11.8 % for Konso
and 21.2 % for Meta-Robi). The main sources of breeding buck in Konso were
own flock and inherited from the mother or father, whereas own flock was in
Meta-Robi. Jaitner et al (2001) reported that utilization of breeding rams
originated within the same flock and less knowledge of sheep keeper about
inbreeding in both crop-livestock and pastoral system implies that the
relationship of animals within the flock and within the village is narrow
and inbreeding is increasing.

Table 1. Breeding management of the study areas

Descriptors

Konso

Meta-Robi

p

N

%

N

%

Breeding buck possession

Yes

106

89.1

89

74.8

No

13

10.9

30

25.2

Source of breeding buck

Own flock

45

40.9

43

64.2

Inherited

36

32.7

20

29.9

Neighboring market

25

22.7

-

-

Distant market

4

3.6

4

6

Purposes keeping a breeding buck

Mating

71

64.5

67

67.7

Fattening

6

5.4

11

11.1

Mating and fattening

13

11.8

21

21.2

Mating and cash income

20

18.2

-

-

Number of breeding buck (Mean±SD)

109

1.7±1.06

90

1.7±0.8

0.08

Average years serving buck (Mean±SD)

103

4±1.9

100

2.3±1.1

0.04

N = Number of households; SD = Standard deviation

Castration

The majority of farmers use traditional castration method to castrate their
buck while, some of the farmers in the districts took their goats to a
nearby veterinary clinic to use burdizzo (Table 2). Alemu (2008) suggested
that Lambs/kids should ideally be castrated as soon as the testicles descend
into the scrotum (this can be from a few days of age to three weeks) and no
sedation or pain killers are necessary if castration is done at this age.

Traditional methods used for castration of bucks in Konso were crushing the
vas deferens with wood made material, banding the testes until they wither
from lack of blood flow and bite off the vas deferens. On the other hand, in
Meta-Robi, the common methods were crushing the vas deferens using rounded
stone locally known as ‘Allelo’ and banded the testes until they wither from
lack of blood flow.

Table 2. Summary on castration

Descriptors

Konso

Meta-Robi

Overall

Prob.

N

%

N

%

N

%

Practice of castration

Yes

106

89.9

85

74.6

191

82.3

No

12

10.2

29

25.4

41

17.7

Castration methods

Traditional

99

90

58

69

157

80.9

Modern

4

3.6

26

31

30

15.5

Both

7

6.4

-

-

7

3.6

Age of castration (Mean±SD)

99

2.4±0.8

80

2.5±1.2

-

-

0.17

N = Number of households; SD = Standard deviation

Mating systems

Mating was predominantly uncontrolled (98.3% in Konso and 95.8% in
Meta-Robi). Main reasons for lack of controlled mating in both areas were
mixed flock herding and lack of awareness about the effect of inbreeding
(Table 3). An advantage of natural uncontrolled mating is that it allows for
all year round parturition. Conversely, uncontrolled mating, small herd
sizes together with poor record keeping on the pedigree is expected to
result in severe inbreeding in these flocks (Kosgey 2004). Equally important
to note is that bucks were kept up to 4 years in Konso district. Tesfaye
(2010) and Dereje (2011) also reported a predominance of uncontrolled mating
within household flock.

Individual goat identification was mainly by the morphological appearance,
such as naming, coat color, cutting the edge or piercing the ear (Table 2).
Tesfaye (2010) reported that individual animal identification is a primary
task, especially in animal breeding and designed feeding experiments for
accuracy of data collection and subsequent performance evaluation.

Table 3. Mating system

Descriptor

Percentage of respondents

Konso

Meta-Robi

Overall

Mating system

Controlled

1.7

4.2

2.9

Uncontrolled

98.3

95.8

97.1

Reason for uncontrolled mating

Common grazing area

68.3

91.7

80

Lack of awareness

29.2

5

17.1

Lack of breeding buck

1.7

1.7

1.7

Combination of all reason

0.8

1.6

1.2

Individual goat identification system

Naming

7.6

40.8

24.2

Coat color

4.2

58.3

31.3

Cutting or piercing the ear

8.5

-

4.3

Combination of all

79.3

-

39.7

The purpose of keeping goats

Goats are kept in Konso relatively for multifaceted purposes than in
Meta-Robi (Table 4). The majority of respondents (94% in Konso and 98% in
Meta-Robi) keep the goat primarily for source of cash income. Similarly,
other studies in Ethiopia (Tesfaye 2009; Grum 2010; Hulunim 2014) revealed
that cash income, milk production and meat consumption are important reasons
of goat for production.

Table 4.
The purpose of keeping goats

Descriptor

Percentage of respondents

Konso

Meta-Robi

Overall

The first reason of keeping goats

Cash income

94.2

98.3

96.2

Saving

5.8

1.6

3.7

The second reason

Home consumption

62.2

27.5

44.85

Meat

6.7

44.2

25.45

Saving

12.6

23.3

17.95

Milk and skin

18.4

-

9.2

For ceremonies

-

4.9

2.45

Selection Criteria

The majority of respondents was practiced selection of breeding male (89.7 %
in Konso and 94.1% in Meta-Robi) female (80.2 % in Konso and 98.3% in
Meta-Robi). For selection of breeding stock, farmers mostly depend on
information about the performance of the animal, information from
relatives/ancestor and assessment of offspring. Average age of selection for
breeding male and female (16.9 and 17.04 months in Konso Vs. 6.71and
6.83months in Meta-Robi) of the two districts were highly different. The
result of Konso was in sharp contrast with the report of Dereje (2011) who
reported age at a selection of goats in Eastern Ethiopia. Age at selection
of animals for breeding might vary as a result of farmers’ decision, breed
and production system.

Buck selection criteria

Table 5 shows that in Konso, growth rate, body size and resistance to
disease were attributed rated to be of great importance to farmers. Farmers
in Meta-Robi had put more weight on body size, coat color as well as growth
rate. The preference of body size and growth rate might be due to the fact
that larger animals in particular were preferred as the fetched better
market prices, had better growth rate and reached market weight sooner.

Doe selection criteria

Farmers in Konso were selecting their does mainly considering body size,
litter size and frequent kidding. On the other hand, selection of doe for
twining ability, body size and frequent kidding were the major considered
criteria of replacement in Meta-Robi (Table 6). According to FGD, favoring
brown in Meta-Robe and white in Konso, over black color was common for
selection of breeding buck and doe. In Ethiopia, goat coat color has a
direct effect on goat marketing value. Due to cultural taboo, for instance,
goat with full black coat color is not preferred for slaughtering for home
meat consumption (Halima et al 2012). Black color animals, including goats,
however, are believed to have superior adaptation to seasonal cold weather
or cold nights as the dark pigment helps them to warm up earlier than goats
with other coat colors (Robertshaw 2006).

Farmers from both districts were concerned with morphological selection
criteria (subjective selection). Nevertheless, production selection criteria
(objective selection) receive more importance. This is in agreement with
Whickham (1993) who reported that traits used for selection should be
objective criteria. Solkner et al (1998) also reported that genetic progress
will be high for measurable traits (such as milk yield and body size) that
have high heritability. In both districts in addition to production traits,
coat color was given attention and it should be considered in breeding
strategies and decision making.

Dereje T 2011
Community-Based characterization of Hararghe HighLand Goats in Darolabu
District Western Hararghe Ethiopia. MSc thesis, Submitted to the School of
Graduate Studies of Haramaya University, Ethiopia.

Tesfaye Tsegaye 2009
Characterization of Goat Production Systems and On- Farm Evaluation of the
Growth Performance of Grazing Goats Supplemented With Different Protein
Sources in Metema, Amhara Region, Ethiopia. MSc Thesis, Submitted to the
School of Graduate Studies of Haramaya University, Ethiopia. 108P.

Tesfaye Kebede 2010
Assessment of on-farm breeding practices and estimation of genetic and
phenotypic parameters for reproduction and survival traits in indigenous
Arsi-Bale goats. MSc thesis, Submitted to the School of Graduate Studies of
Haramaya University, Ethiopia.

Valle Zárate A 1999
Livestock biodiversity in the mountains/highlands - opportunities and
threats. Paper presented at the International symposium on “Livestock in
Mountain/Highland Production Systems: Research and Development Challenges
into the Next Millennium”, 7-10 December, 1999 in Pokhara, Nepal.